FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN (1989)

Cast: Kane Hodder, Jensen Dagett, Todd Caldecott, Tiffany Paulson, Peter Mark Richman, Kelly Hu, Gordon Currie, V.C. Dupree The graduating class of the local high school is going on a luxury cruise with Jason Voorhees as a stowaway. The heroine Rennie Wickham believes she was almost drowned by Jason as a child. Jason eventually sinks the boat and kills many of the students on it, but many of them escape to Manhattan. A long battle with Jason ensues until Jason is washed away in the New York sewers by a midnight flooding of toxic waste.
In continuing reviewing the series I can appreciate the films individually as some are really standouts in the series while some are only watchable as they add to the overall tale as disjointed at this point as it is. Makes you wonder at some points like why is it acceptable that the twist in part 5 is seen as remarkable. Yet in another series Halloween 3 is seen as a disgrace. When both tried to breathe new life and present its series in a new direction. Though with the Friday the 13th they pretty much stayed within the core slasher.
The prologue of the film foreshadows all the places that Jason will chase the teenagers: downtown with the gang members, the diner, and the alley with the drug addicts, and the subway.
There is Inept filmmaking all around in this film. I know this is just another mindless sequel that just adds a new element into the mix to make you think it’s going to be different then the last ones you saw but it just ends up pretty much being him killing teenagers and the odd adult in painful brutal ways such as impaling them on a harpoon and suspending them from it. Just now in a new different location.
Usually the lure for these films is the promise of nudity and sexual situations. The characters usually having a party that involves drugs and alcohol but this film doesn’t even have these simple visuals. This is almost a all around cluster fuck. None of the scenes are scary. The kills are simplistic not artistic as in the past. The cast is far from conveniently attractive. Once the five survivors make it to new York they are dispatched in one ridiculous way after and then one guy literally boxes Jason to the edge of a roof then runs out of energy then tells Jason to give him his best shot which he does which decapitates him. Then his head falls perfectly into a trash can but then makes an appearance in a cop car.
This was the last film in the "Friday the 13th" series to be produced and distributed by Paramount, due to declining box office returns. Subsequent entries were handled by New Line Cinema.
This film truly made me notice some of the problems with the Friday the 13th as a whole some problems are minor some are major. We know he has eyes but yet any close up of him wearing the mask makes it look like he has two empty holes. I guess to make it look like he is a phantom. I know he is supernatural bit since he doesn’t fly or teleport or run. How does he catch up and get ahead of his victims? He can’t always know a short cut to his surroundings. Like in this film it’s his first time in the area yet he knows the geography like a pro. Who knows what he busies himself with in between kills? Especially since he doesn’t seem to eat or sleep. Is he a monster? ,Zombie?, Mutant? We never get a full explination. Or definition.
Writer/Director Rob Hedden originally wrote more of the movie to be set in New York. He had written scenes at Madison Square Garden, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Empire State Building. But Paramount told him that budget would not allow him to spend that much time in New York, so he was forced to rewrite the film and spend more time on the cruise ship. Hedden says he agrees with fans who complain that not enough time is spent in New York, given the title Jason Takes Manhattan.
It would be nice if the series added some pure creativity. Though it does try yet it feels like fads since it has had a copy cat killer who was a regular human being. Then in JASON GOES TO HELL he possesses different people by them eating his heart. Then we get Jason in space in JASON X. We have had Jason in 3D in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 3, Jason resurrected for the first time in FRIDAY THE 13TH PART 6. Jason Vs. The girl with Psychic powers in PART 7, Then JASON VS. FREDDY. Here they just seemed to change his surroundings to a popular metropolis.
Which I have to say This film is very insulting to new York as I know it was bad particularly times square around the time this film was made, but this film makes the city look nothing but dirty, corrupt and dangerous with almost ever citizen a criminal or drug addict. It seems like they make New York out to be just as dangerous if not more so then Jason. Which might be the one part of the film gets it’s one dose of reality. This seems to be Grindhouse era New York. Tons of homeless, crooked cops, Muggers, Junkies, pimps, Prostitutes and dealers. All kinds of sleaze. So mixing that with this fantasy element is a pop art mash up. That is a interesting contrast, but unfortunately this was the wrong filmmaker to do it.
SPOILER
There is also some weird connection between the hero and Jason that causes her to have visions of him as a child asking for help. Which makes no sense in the first place. Only to be the saving factor in the end. With child Jason killing and taking monster Jason away. It’s like the filmmakers couldn’t think of a new plausible way to kill him. So they come up with a stand by of mumbo jumbo. Where are the visions coming from and when did they become physical?
SPOILER ENDING
Sorry for spoiling the ending but either way they made another sequel. So no matter what he’s down but not out (Which is one of the more entertaining scenes)
Grade: D